Letter: Digital billboard will change character of downtown

The following is a letter to the editor that was sent to the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Tim Putney, Kalamazoo

Early this year you will witness a large digital billboard being placed on top of the Olde Peninsula building at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Portage Street. This new sign (one of seven being placed about our city) will greet drivers and others for years to come with ever-changing colors and images. This new billboard will forever change the character and attractiveness of this historic area.

Then there is the driver distraction factor to be considered. MDOT’S accident statics show that in 2011 and 2012 almost one accident a week occurred along Michigan Avenue from Westnedge Avenue through our Haymarket Historic District. Now another driver distraction is being added. Certainly Adams Outdoor Advertising Company hopes a driver’s eyes will be drawn to the sign. Any time this happens, however, a distraction occurs, and distractions can cause accidents.

Why would our city permit this major change to our city’s landscape? One can only surmise that when Adams Outdoor Sign Company informed our city that they would take any necessary legal remedies available to them if they were not allowed to place digital billboards in our city. This was the elephant in the room throughout the city’s whole decision-making process. For a city that is facing a significant deficit, it just makes sense to believe this was the case.

It is fair for one to question if the city’s decision was made in the best interests of our citizens, visitors and businesses. I am one who believes this is not the case, and that our city will be paying for their decision in significant ways for the foreseeable future.